


you are to me what I am to you

by spinoffprotagonist



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Confessions (Sort of), Drabble, M/M, not beta read bc this was meant to be a writing exercise, thank you kuro for opening my eyes to sunakita, they're embarrassing and also in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26060995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinoffprotagonist/pseuds/spinoffprotagonist
Summary: And then: paying attention to Kita’s habits. He wasn’t sure when that particular one had happened; it might’ve been right from the start.
Relationships: Kita Shinsuke/Suna Rintarou
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	you are to me what I am to you

_Actions have consequences_ , Kita had said once. _Who you are today is a consequence of everything you’ve done to build yourself up._

Rintarou hadn’t known Kita to be wrong before, so he took those words to heart and built a monument out of it. Getting to the club room with minutes to spare, though of course Kita always managed to arrive even earlier. Knowing when to cool down on training, even when the Miyas fought over who got to practise with Aran (who by no means had agreed to practise with them anyway).

And then: paying attention to Kita’s habits. He wasn’t sure when that particular one had happened; it might’ve been right from the start.

Kita Shinsuke cleaned out club room shelves, compiled volleyball logistics into a binder, swept his thumb under his chin and tilted his head to the right every time he was given a leave form to look at. Wrote his kanji in neat squarish font and his katakana in smooth strokes. Adopted the perfect ready stance to receive every time they practised against each other ‒ arms turned out, knees bent, weight forward on the toes.

Three-on-three matches were the worst. Rintarou could spike until his arms burned with lactic acid, and Kita would still steadily get the ball up in the air on the other side of the net like it was a mere warm-up. He would’ve stopped trying by now, if he was up against anyone else. But then again Kita never liked laziness, so Rintarou hit the ball again and again, twisting his torso more so than usual and silently bemoaning the ridiculously _compelling_ nature of his captain’s expectant look.

A whistle blew to signal the end of training. Rintarou wiped his face with his shirt and slumped down against a wall to catch his breath. His body felt stiffer than usual from overexertion.

Naturally, his eyes drifted over towards where Kita was, over at a corner talking to Akagi, jacket draped across his shoulders. Right now, Kita felt utterly out of reach, an untouchable deity one could leave offerings at the altar for and hope to receive no response.

Then Kita turned, and their lines of sight crossed. Shit. _Shit_. Rintarou looked away to stretch and cool down in an effort to escape the growing weight of Kita’s gaze, unwavering and intense like the warm rays of the sun setting under the mountains.

 _Don’t look at him. Don’t look at him_ , Rintarou thought with all his resolve, extending his arms to the side to properly stretch them. He heard light footsteps; knew who it was without even having to glance back to confirm.

“Suna.” The sibilant slid off Kita’s tongue into a close back compressed vowel, the gentle press of the alveolar nasal giving way to a light _ah_. “You did well today. Keep it up.”

_Don’t look at him._

Rintarou turned and raised his head to stare squarely into Kita’s golden gaze, as soft and bright as Tanabata sky lanterns.

“A-ah, sure, Kita-san,” he said, far too faintly, telling himself that the warm splotches on his cheeks were _just_ due to the rigorous training they just had and not anything else.

Kita leaned towards him, bending down so that they were at eye level. A hand extended towards Rintarou, featherlight fingers brushing away bangs plastered to his face by sweat. He shivered on reflex.

“You did so well today,” Kita repeated meaningfully, bringing his hand down on Rintarou’s shoulder for the briefest moment before standing up to call the other members to clear out of the training hall. It took about five minutes for Ginjima to corral the other second-years into leaving ‒ though the look Osamu threw over his shoulder was horribly wide and smug. _Asshole_.

The hall was empty now except for Kita and Rintarou. There was a stillness in the air, on the cusp of snow about to thaw off flower petals.

Rintarou yanked his schoolbag up, intending to leave before he could run his mouth or do something that was equally regrettable. “Thank-you-goodbye Kita-sa‒”

Fingers curled loosely around his wrist, and Rintarou stopped like a deer in headlights. His eyes swept down to his wrist, before following up, up, up to Kita’s face.

He wasn’t sure what that look on Kita’s face was supposed to mean.

“Suna,” Kita said softly, the intensity of his irises softened by lowered lashes. “I like you.”

The fingers around his wrist relaxed, and in a delicate gesture Kita brought his hand up to place their joined hands against Kita’s chest.

 _Oh_ , Rintarou realised belatedly. The back of his hand, pressed against Kita’s heart, could sense a steady heartbeat. Steady, and _quick_. He hadn’t thought it possible for Kita to feel nervous about anything, but maybe he didn’t know Kita as well as he thought he did after all.

He could no longer blame his reddening cheeks on training, so Rintarou squeezed Kita’s fingers and gave an odd breathy laugh in an attempt to answer Kita without the embarrassment of tripping over his words. _Horrid_. This was horrid in every ‒

Kita leaned up to kiss him on the lips.

Rintarou’s onslaught of thoughts ground to a complete halt. In all truth, it felt so surreal that he wouldn’t have accepted it to be real, until Kita broke apart to stare expectantly at _him_.

“Do it properly, Rintarou,” Kita sighed, and angled his head to kiss him again fully, moving his hands up around Rintarou’s neck. Something about the way Kita pronounced his first name, stern and gentle, was enough for him to start kissing back, to feel the sweet curve of Kita’s smile against his mouth and melt under the taste of Kita’s affection.

_Your daily actions matter._

Kita said that too, Rintarou remembered now, as Kita kissed him with the devotion of someone who had been paying as much attention to him as he had to Kita.

“You’ve been watching me too, Kita-san,” Rintarou told Kita shakily once the kiss ended, grasping for something to say to ward off his breathlessness.

“I have,” Kita said simply, even as his cheeks were dusted with the pink of plum blossoms. “And?”

“And I guess. I guess I like you too.” Rintarou blushed again. Wondered how bold he could afford to be in front of Kita, and decided _oh what the hell_. “I like you too, Sh-Shinsuke.”

“Shinsuke,” Kita echoed, a warm smile lighting up his entire face, the way the sun rises behind Fujiyama. “Rintarou, I’d like to ask you to never call me ‘Kita-san’ again. ‘Shinsuke’ will do.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” and Rintarou smiled, far too widely. “It’s hard to get used to it though. Shinsuke. _Shin_ suke. Shi‒”

Kita‒ _Shinsuke_ sighed again, hooked his fingers around Rintarou’s face, and kissed him to shut him up.

Rintarou found that he didn't quite mind.

**Author's Note:**

> so this was initially supposed to be like a 500 something writing warm up but I'm glad we got here LOL sunakita is just. really cute okay I hope I managed to capture their dynamic ^-^


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